A Charming Family
by Viwiel Singollo
Summary: Mrs. Jane's past is starting to catch up with her.
1. Once Upon A Time

Disclaimer: I'm just a poor student playing with other people's toys, neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor the Mentalist belongs to me.

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**Prologue: Once Upon A Time**

She left it all to have a normal life. How that went you ask? Well...

She ended up falling in love and marrying a man who claimed to be a psychic. Not very normal, is it? How many women, or people do you know who are married to a psychic? Not many, she could tell.

The upside, that of course depended on how you looked at it, was that he wasn't a real deal. Psychic you see. He just pretended to be to get the money and fame. In reality he was just a normal man who noticed all the little details.

But despite of his flaws, he was her Prince Charming in his three-piece suit. He married her and got his promised half of the kingdom... In the real life that was an adorable curly-haired angel of a daughter who became his world along with her mother.

Mr. and Mrs. Charming and their lovely daughter moved to a big beach house because Mrs. Charming loved the beach, and the ocean, and the salty winds that blew around there. The house was paid with the money he had made and the inheritance she had gotten from her grandfather.

Or at least that was what she had told him. Because it would have been a bad idea to tell that it was her reward for saving the world that many times.

"_From what?" He would question her._

"_From the demons and other various evil beings, naturally. You see, there's this prophesy-" She would begin to explain._

"_You're kidding, right?" He would ask incredulously._

_She would deny and try to assure him that she hadn't lost her mind. Yes, she could see how that would end. _

_He would call the men in white jackets to come and get his wife. To help her, obviously. _

"_There was all this stress and, you know?" He would tell those men. He was afraid she was a little delusional. _

"_Honey, it will be okay. Katie and I will call every day and visit." He would tell her as the men would take her away from her husband and daughter. _

"_They will help you. You will be back to us before you notice." He'd promise._

So as far as Mr. Charming was aware, Mrs. Charming had inherited it from her lately deceased grandfather, may he rest in peace.

For some time they lived in their gorgeous beach house and their family was happy. There was even talk about getting a second child. And a dog, because little Katie loved doggies. No dark clouds could be seen anywhere.

Unfortunately for them, their story wasn't there with those rare "they lived happily ever after" stories.

Mr. and Mrs. Charming's happily ever after started to crumble the day he went and made somebody angry. Somebody that he should have had sense to leave alone. As if that hadn't been enough a persistent old enemy of hers had started tracking her down. There came the day a friend of hers called to tell he had acquired the information of her location and was in the town. This enemy of hers was cat-like. He loved to play with his pray. She was quite sure he knew that she was aware of the game and knew he was on her heels. Now was time to decide what she would do.

For a day she pondered and weighted different alternatives. Then she resolved it, this had made her realize that in reality there was only one choice she could make. Desperate times asked for desperate measures and apparently it was time to test her husband's faith in her.

There wasn't much time left, she could feel her enemy drawing near. She had to tell him as soon as he returned home, there was no time left to waste.

It was very unlucky for her that something delayed her husband that day. Even unluckier was that her nemesis was tired of waiting and had opted to make his move on that particularly unlucky day.

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A/N: Push the button and tell me what you think.


	2. There Was a Queen

** Disclaimer** from the first chapter applies.

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**Chapter One: There Was a Queen**

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Mrs. Charming was just done putting her daughter to her afternoon nap when she heard it; somebody opened a door downstairs. It was one of the doors leading outside, she could hear briefly the sound of a car driving past before that someone shut the door.

All the doors were locked from inside. There was somebody in the house who wasn't supposed to be there. Those weren't her husband's steps.

No, Mr. Charming hardly made sound when he moved. She had once called him her lion lover. Silent as a cat and had the mane of a lion.

Besides, her husband knew to avoid that squeaking board in the hallway.

No, it wasn't her husband. Neither was it anybody else that she knew. She had good memory and those weren't steps she recognized.

She scurried back to her daughter's room and closed the door behind her. Gracefully she sidestepped the mobile hanging from the ceiling. Mr. Charming had made it for his little princess. Had she even slightly brushed it the voice of its hundreds of shimmering crystals and glass objects would have immediately alerted the person downstairs of her location.

She kneeled next to her daughter's bed.

"Katie!" she whispered urgently same time as she shook the quilt-covered shoulder slightly. "Katie, you got to wake up, honey."

Slowly bright, crystal blue eyes blinked open, "Mommy?" The little girl was confused why her mommy was waking her. There was something weird in her mommy's expression. Something that she recalled only seeing once before, when that bad man had tried to take her mommy's purse.

"Honey, do you remember what mommy told you to do, if something bad happened here in the house?" Mrs. Charming questioned her daughter and received a solemn nod. Too solemn for a girl of her age.

"Remember, no matter what you hear, you must stay in there and wait really, really quietly for mommy to come get you," Mrs. Charming reminded her daughter.

"Okay," Katie nodded with a serious expression on her face.

"Good, you know that mommy loves you _unbelievably_ much?" she looked Katie in the eyes.

"Uh huh," the little girl nodded yet again. "I love you too mommy."

They hugged and Mrs. Charming helped Katie in the closet where her carpenter friend had made a little secret space. Just in case that something happened. You could never be too careful.

She closed the faux wall and the closet door after it. She paused to straighten her clothes in front of the large mirror that was hanging on the wall next to the door and once satisfied, left the room.

With her head held high she descended the stairs. She might have left her old life and her rightful place, but she wasn't going to hide. Especially when it was no use.

For the most part they all, both the good and the bad, lived by the rules and she had broken the rules when she hid from her old life. Apparently the fates had decided it was her time to pay for her lapse.

Even after everything she was still the Queen whose disappearance had sent the whole supernatural community into chaos. For the underworld she was same what the Queen Elizabeth to England. In her own way she was an icon.

"Excuse me, can I help you? I'm afraid my husband isn't home right now, if you're looking for him." Over the years she had perfected her act as a slightly ditzy housewife. At the moment this housewife was being polite even though she seemed to be a little confused how this unfamiliar man had gotten in her home. And judging by the way she was frowning at the intruder's shoes, she was slightly annoyed that he was bringing dirt on her beautiful cream rug.

"Oh no, I'm not looking for Mr. Jane. I came looking for you," the stranger's voice was pleasant with a sophisticated French accent. Based on his words either this man worked for the enemy that had been tracking her or he was the man her husband was foolish enough to antagonize.

"What should I call you? Elizabeth Jane, Elizabeth Winters, or is it Buffy Summers? I'm quite bemused with all these identities." The man in his pinstripe suit said conversationally, tapping his chin with his index finger.

Mrs. Charming chose to keep quiet, merely regarding the man as if he were only a mildly interesting specimen, instead of a man who had broken into her house.

"Ah, I think I figured out what to call you," the man claimed after pretending to ponder it for a moment, "_Slayer_, isn't that right?"

"I came looking for you, _your highness_," he gave a slight bow then, mocking the nickname the underworld had given her.

So, the first alternative then. After she had gotten the confirmation of his status, it was like a switch had been hit. Now that all the cards were on the table, there was no reason for her to pretend. The housewife was replaced by a warrior queen.

"I've heard about you." The politeness in her tone was overridden by freezing coldness. "I hope you understand you're not getting her, nor you are getting me alive," she informed the man-looking demon; Henry de Leon, as he was called in the human world. The demon equivalent called him simply the Conqueror, for he conquered worlds to hand at his master on a silver platter.

"We shall see about that," he said, tilting his head to side as he looked at her.

"I gladly die before bringing this world on its knees in front of your _lord_," the loathing and hatred for his master coated her words. Lightning fast she moved to grab a dagger from it's hiding place. She kept weapons like that around the house; just in case.

She got the weapon and the fight was on.

They were a quite evenly matched pair. While she was slightly faster, his blows were just that much stronger. Both sustained multiple injuries, some more notable than others.

Buffy was thrown on the floor by an extremely vicious kick from his part.

Limping his left leg, which Buffy had slashed with her dagger, de Leon came to stand next to her, his shadow falling over her. With an unfathomable expression he watched down, looking on as she struggled to stand up again.

"So even the queens fall," he said blankly. "I hope you reconsider your earlier decision," he intoned as she finally managed to get on her feet. De Leon took few steps forward, coming to stand right in front of the woman. "I will return in near future to see if you have changed it," he leaned over to whisper to her ear with a lover-like quality, and out of the blue, plugged the knife he had been keeping in his sleeve into her vulnerable stomach and twisted it cruelly.

It didn't matter if this woman lived or died. Sooner or later he would get what he wanted. Actually, without this pathetic human being it would be much sooner than with her there putting up a fight. Those like her just didn't understand that it didn't matter if they fought or not. It was only matter of time that he'd hand this world to his master and get his reward.

He left, using openly the front door and leaving it open after him.

On the way to his car he smiled charmingly to a neighbor who stood on the sidewalk, gawking at his bleeding thigh. The words of concern died on her lips as she saw his smile. She was still flustered by it, as the man drove away in the expensive looking car he had came in.

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The board was arranging itself. The black was starting to take over. The direct attack against the white queen had weakened the light greatly.

The black king was thrilled as he watched the illuminated white pieces arrange themselves after his move. It was better than he had hoped for.

With a twisted smirk on his disturbing beautiful face he watched the shine of the white queen dim and the other pawns start to gather around to protect it from the ink colored pieces. Only the poor white king was standing alone in its place, oblivious to everything that was happening around it.

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A/N: R&R, right guys and gals? Opinions, thought, ideas, corrections…

It's all welcome, even if it's a note saying 'I read it' (;


	3. Who Fell Into a Deep Slumber

**Disclaimer** from the first chapter applies.

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**Chapter Two: Who Fell Into a Deep Slumber...**

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Alone, on the kitchen floor of a light and spacious house, the Queen was struggling to breathe.

She could feel the broken ribs and other injuries all too clearly now that the adrenalin rush was fading.

There was only one thing she could do. She had only one chance and she hoped she would succeed in it before she passed out.

She could tell she wouldn't last long with these injuries, not without medical care, for the knife wound in her gut alone was enough to kill a normal person.

Slowly she started to lower her mental shields. They had been up for so long that it was hard to undo them.

"_Willow? Help..._"

Too big blood loss and the pain from her injuries finally caught up with her and made her lose her consciousness after the effort of sending a message to her old friend. Her prone figure laid there on the floor of her beloved kitchen, looking very out of place there.

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Willow was in front of the class she was teaching when she heard a weak whisper in the back of her mind.

The class looked up as their teacher interrupted her lecture in the middle of a word.

"Melody, come here please," Willow said as soon as she recovered from the shock. "You're in charge. Read the next chapter and continue the exercises that we started last time," she gave orders, "and send somebody to tell Mr. Giles Buffy's in trouble."

"But-" Melody was about to say something, but Willow had already teleported away.

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Willow teleported straight in the address Buffy had given her. She had never visited it because Buffy didn't want to her new family to be mixed in the world of supernatural. Willow could understand that. Bad things happened when you brought normal people into their world.

Willow had met Buffy's husband Patrick only three times during all these years. Once during the time they were just dating, once in their wedding where she had been the maid of honor, and lastly in the hospital when Katie had been born.

Buffy had explained the absence of her best friends with the distance – the rest of the Scoobies lived in England, and with the lack of free time from running an international business.

As far as Willow knew, Patrick had swallowed the excuses as whole.

As she walked farther in the house, she what she saw was signs of a struggle all around; a fallen painting, a shattered lamp, some furniture that had obviously been in different places before the altercation that had clearly taken place here. She had expected something like this, after the long silence it would take a lot for Buffy to contact her in the manner she had.

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Willow knew about the safe room for Buffy's daughter. When the lease for the house had been signed, but the Janes had yet to move in, Buffy had asked Xander to make some changes, including the hidden space in the closet.

When she opened the panel she saw Katie there, sitting in a corner with her hands wrapped around her knees and her face hidden.

"Katie? It's me, your aunt Willow. It's okay to come out," she assured the child. "I'm going to help you and your mommy."

"I can't. Mommy told I have to wait till she comes to get me," the serious little girl shook her head.

"Your mommy's hurt so she can't come to get you right now, but she sent me. Once you come, we can take mommy to somewhere where she can get help." Willow explained gently.

"Okay," Katie agreed, "but only if you can tell what is mommy's favorite color?" Katie insisted. Her mommy had told her she should always make sure that people were who they said they were and that she could do it by asking questions they should know the answer to.

"Bright blue of course. The color of your and your daddy's eyes," Willow answered smiling softly. She was amazed by this smart little girl. Buffy had done great job raising her.

With an uncertain look Katie stood up to take the hand Willow offered letting the woman she'd only seen in pictures lead her out of the dark closet.

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There was a group of people standing around a bed. On the bed laid a small woman with pale complexion and golden hair.

"Has she said anything?" asked the man who had been the last one to enter the room.

Three others shook their heads. The one with red hair verbalized it, "Not since arriving. When I went to get her she regained her conscience for a short moment; she asked me to stage her and Katie's deaths. She wants to protect her husband and doesn't want whoever is after her to go after him instead. That's all that was in her mind; protecting her family."

"That's our Buff," the man with an eye patch confirmed, his tone warm.

"Do you think it'll work?" asked the man in eyeglasses. He was easily the oldest one of them, having the looks of a distinguished gentleman.

"It's hard to tell. It all depends on who or what is after her, if the spell is strong enough to fool them," the redhead shook her head, a frown marring her brow.

"How's Katie? She's with Dawn, I assume?"

"Yeah, they're in Dawn's rooms. She's pretty confused and wants her mom and dad. She wouldn't leave Buffy until Dawn came to take her to eat and promised she would hear immediately if something changed."

"Poor kiddo, I assume we can't contact B's hubby?" the woman who was sitting next to the bed, holding the limp hand of the unconscious woman asked.

"It would give away she's alive. We can't afford that, not when we don't know who we are up against. She wouldn't have asked to stage their deaths if it was nothing."

"I'm guessing we're talking about Glory-serious. Whoever it was, they got to be strong to get her in that condition."

"I'll get the research started," it was the older of the two men speaking. "Send a word if her state changes."

"I will. Don't worry, she's tough, she will pull through."

"I truly hope so."

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**A/N:** Again, R&R, please? That would make my day. It's been a long time, so a review or two would go a long way to getting me inspired about this again.

Opinions, thought, ideas, corrections… Like said previously, it's all welcome, even if it's a note saying 'I read it'.


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